Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

4 Answers

Question about Flight Following

Asked by: 3942 views Airspace, Student Pilot

If I wasn't flying to another airport, but over a long distance just to fly over some scenery, how would I call for vfr flight following, and would it be okay to cancel once I get over the scenery I want to see?

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Koehn on Oct 23, 2014

    You’ll need to contact the ARTCC (center) controller assuming you’re away from a larger airport with approach services; you can easily find the frequency in the A/FD or on IFR low en-route charts. If you’re out of radar coverage they obviously cannot give you flight following, but they’ll let you know if they cannot see you on the scope.

    You needn’t cancel flight following just because you’re not going straight; let the controller know you’re going to linger in an area and they’ll let you know if any traffic comes by.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. gliderpilot2013 on Oct 23, 2014

    Thank you, that answers the second part. But let me rephrase the first part. Let’s say that my scenery is 5 miles West of the XYZ VOR. Would my call consist of me saying that my destination is some scenery 5 West of the XYZ VOR and I will be lingering in the area? This is opposed to saying that I would like to request VFR flight following to the ABC airport.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Mark Kolber on Oct 23, 2014

    Yes. It’s really just as simple as telling ATC what you want to do. “We’ll be sightseeing about 5 west of the XYZ VOR. Request flight following.”

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Gary on Nov 08, 2014

    Respectfully….”lingering” is probably not the best aviation word even though ATC will understand. Try “maneuvering.” Or you could say “hanging out”(just kidding).

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.